Property $(T)$ for noncommutative universal lattices

We establish a new spectral criterion for Kazhdan's property $(T)$ which is applicable to a large class of discrete groups defined by generators and relations. As the main application, we prove property $(T)$ for the groups $EL_n(R)$, where $n\geq 3$ and $R$ is an arbitrary finitely generated associative ring. We also strengthen some of the results on property $(T)$ for Kac-Moody groups from a paper of Dymara and Januszkiewicz (Invent. Math 150 (2002)).